STS-IHN - Science, Technology, and Society

Interdisciplinary Honors in Science, Technology, and Society

The Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) offers an opportunity for undergraduates to graduate with Interdisciplinary Honors in STS. The STS honors program is open to STS majors as well as students from other majors.

Students accepted into the program carry out an original honors project, working with a faculty adviser. For STS majors, this project also fulfills the requirements for a capstone course and a sociocultural concentration course. An STS honors thesis tackles a significant problem or question related to the intersection of science, technology, and society. Students draw research methods from one or more of the disciplines that shape STS, such as history, sociology, communication, anthropology, environmental science, computer programming/modeling, engineering, economics, political science, and art history, while also capitalizing on unique analytical perspectives of STS as an intellectual field. STS interdisciplinary honors signals expertise in a given area, organizational skills, and intellectual rigor, and students have used it as a springboard for graduate studies and for careers in fields such as information technology, entrepreneurship, finance, public policy, media, education, law, medicine, and the nonprofit sector. Past honors projects are on file in the STS office library, as well as the digital repository.

Admission

Students are encouraged to apply to the STS honors program during the Spring Quarter of their junior year. Late application is considered up to the add/drop deadline of the Autumn Quarter of their senior year.

For Majors in Science, Technology, and Society

In preparation for applying to the honors program in STS, students should:

1. Select an area of research interest in STS, prepare related research questions, and identify potential faculty advisers for an honors thesis based on those questions.

2. Attend one or more of the quarterly STS workshops offered for prospective honors students, and/or take STS 191W Introduction to Research in STS (offered Winter Quarter) or an alternative course on research methods approved by the STS honors program director, and/or speak with the STS honors program director.

3. Submit a research statement and an honors program application, following the parameters set out at STS Honors Program web site.

For Majors in Other Departments and Programs

In addition to the requirements for STS majors, applicants from other departments should:

1. Meet with the honors program director as early as possible to ensure that they have sufficient background in relevant analytical and methodological approaches.

2. Satisfy one of the following:

   • Complete STS 1: Introduction to Science, Technology & Society, and either two courses approved as sociocultural foundational courses in STS, or two alternative courses approved by the STS honors program director as relevant to the proposed honors research in STS;  or

   • Complete three courses approved by the STS honors program director as relevant to the proposed honors research in STS.

Interdisciplinary Honors Requirements

To graduate with Interdisciplinary Honors in STS, seniors in the honors program need to meet the following criteria:

1. Enroll in STS 299 with an honors faculty adviser to oversee the thesis for a minimum of 10 units total, with up to 5 units per quarter, over Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters. Students who choose to obtain Permit for Services Only (PSO) status during their final quarter may do so with the consent of the STS honors program director but they must still have enrolled in a minimum of 10 units of STS 299 during previous quarters.

2. Enroll in STS 298, a required monthly workshops for current STS honors students.

3. Complete a thesis judged worthy of an honors program by the faculty adviser and STS adviser.

4. Have an overall Stanford GPA of 3.4 at the end of Winter Quarter, senior year, or demonstrated academic competence.